Life With a Baby Tengu
by baka-neko-fan
Summary: What do you get when you combine Kantarou and an orphaned baby tengu? Well, let's find out, shall we? First chapter is a short prelude to see if there's any interest. Rated for language.


So I was reading FireDemon95's fanfic called "A Goblin's Mistake." It's good, you should read it! Anywhoo, I realized that there was a valid point in the first chapter: Why aren't there more family genre fics for Tactics? It's silly, when you think about it, I mean... Kantarou plus babies? Who wouldn't want to write about that?! I guess we all got so lost in the yaoi we forgot, "Oh, hey, babies!" At least, that's the case for me. Don't look at me like that! The mangaka were asking for it, making a canon HaruKan Doujin! Anyway, this is sort of a what-if scenario... Please note that I'm trying really hard to make it non-romantic, but it may wind up being HaruKan. I can't help myself; I love them so much~!

Now then, without further ado aside from the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: Do you see this fanfic? There's a reason it's a "fan" fic. I'm a fan. I don't own Tactics- I only wish I had that kind of knowledge about youkai.

* * *

It was a stereotypically stormy night, but all was calm within Kantarou Ichinomiya's home. Well, as calm as it would ever be. "Kan-chan! Get back to work on your manuscript!" The kitsune, Youko, scolded her master as he wandered about aimlessly with a cup of tea.

"I'm not inspired enough! Besides, it's storming, give me a break." The man moaned, taking a sip of said tea. "This tea is rather bland, Youko-chan," He commented, attempting to change the subject.

"It's bland because you refuse to write books that never sell anyway," Haruka, the renowned demon-eating tengu stated simply, "And since when does the weather affect your ability to write?"

Kantarou turned to face the tengu and said, "When it gets too humid, the paper gets damp and the ink runs and it's just not the same!" It was then that the power went out, giving Kantarou even more reason to complain. "See! Now I can't even see my hand in front of my face! It's fate, I tell you!"

"Yeah, why don't you write about that?" Haruka mumbled somewhat sarcastically. A candle was lit suddenly by the ever-prepared Youko.

"You can see again, so write!" She snapped at her master. There was a clap of thunder before the sound of several sharp raps against the front door. "Who could that be at this hour? Rosalie-chan?" She pondered aloud as she walked to the door and slid it open. "Huh... Did somebody mistake us for a hospital?"

Kantarou came up behind Youko, following the light of her candle, and asked, "Mistake us for a hospital? Did they send us money?" There was yet another clap of thunder, followed by a shrill scream. Just for a moment, illuminated by the lightning, Kantarou was able to see what Youko was talking about. "Haruka! Get some warm towels!" He called back.

"Warm towels? How am I supposed to warm them? There's no power, Kantarou!" Haruka reminded, though he went in search of towels nonetheless.

"Sit on them or something, I don't care!" The man gently pushed Youko aside and bent down, bringing a crudely handmade basket into the light, revealing it's contents. For all outward appearances, it looked like a perfectly normal, healthy, human newborn, but Kantarou knew better. This was no human child- it was a black tengu, born a tengu, just like Haruka, though it's wings were still quite small, rather disproportionate to the rest of the body. "Can't be more than a week old," He remarked softly, drawing the infant closer to the candle.

Youko stared at him in disbelief, "You can't be serious. You aren't really going to keep it, are you?" When she received no response, she huffed, "Right, so Haruka and I can't keep a cute little puppy, but you can keep a baby tengu? We really need another mouth to feed?" When the priest turned away from her and began walking deeper into the pitch-black house, she snapped, "KAN-CHAN! Are you even listening to me?!"

"Harukaaa~ Where- oh, there you are," Kantarou nearly ran into the tengu before noticing his outline in the darkness, "Isn't she cute?"

"Kantarou, I can't see any better than you can." Haruka grumbled, dropping the towels on his master's head and before lighting a candle of his own.

Youko joined them, still ranting about Kantarou's inability to listen to a word she has to say, "Haruka! I am talking, right? You can hear me?" When she got no response from her fellow youkai, she sighed and said, "I give up. Men are useless, youkai and human alike."

"Mmhmm," Kantarou agreed, obviously still not listening to her. "Amaya, that's what I'll call her."

"You really suck at giving names." Haruka remarked. "Amaya meaning 'night rain?' Why not just name her 'Tengu?' Keep it simple."

Feeling a bit left out now, Youko tried to bring herself into the conversation. "Why not, Kan-chan? Haruka-chan is Haruka and Youko's a Youko, so why not?"

"Ah, don't be jealous. Just because she's smaller and cuter than both of you doesn't mean I don't love all my children equally," Kantarou teased, taking the towels off of his head and wrapping the infant tengu in them. "Looks like we'll have to pay Sugino-sama a visit tomorrow. I have a lot of questions for him. I wish I knew more about tengu childhood. Haruka, what do baby tengu eat?"

Still uncertain about his own more recent past, let alone his childhood, Haruka mumbled, "I dunno, what do human babies eat?"

"They nurse from their mothers, feed off of their milk... I guess we could try milk." Kantarou nodded in agreement with himself, "We'll try tomorrow, I think Amaya-chan is tired."

"Is she? Or are you just avoiding work?" Youko countered, but was ignored, yet again.

"Goodnight~" Kantarou called to Youko and Haruka before promptly bumping into a wall, causing little Amaya to awaken and scream in terror. Yes, this was going to take some getting used to.

* * *

Why tengu, you ask? Because they're the only humanoid youkai I know much about aside from Yamabiko, but... They annoy me after reading Tactics because, well, nobody likes forced marriages. Not even Kantarou. According to a baby naming website, the name "Amaya" means "night rain." I tried to stay in Kantarou's character when coming up with a name... It was either that or Raidon/Rai. Raidon is, according to the site, the name of a "mythological thunder god" and Rai means "thunder." All I learned from this experience is that I need to study more Japanese.


End file.
